The desire to have the hair retain a particular style or shape is widely held. The most common methodology for accomplishing this is by spraying a composition, typically from a mechanical pump spray device or from a pressurized aerosol canister, to the hair. Such compositions provide temporary setting benefits and can usually be removed by water or by shampooing. The materials used in hair spray compositions are generally resins, gums, and adhesive polymers.
Many people desire a high level of style retention, or hold, from a hair spray composition. Most current hair spray compositions have disadvantages. Spray products that have good hold characteristics tend to be either too stiff or too sticky upon drying. Stiff compositions tend to be brittle and break down under common stresses such as wind, brushing, combing. Stiff compositions also tend to feel and look unnatural. Sticky compositions overcome many of the foregoing disadvantages of stiff compositions, because, sticky compositions tend to be more forgiving, i.e. flexible, under stress and allow for restyling of the hair. However, sticky compositions have the disadvantage of leaving the hair with a heavy, coated feel and with a limp and unattractive appearance. Also, sticky compositions cause the hair to quickly become soiled from common contaminant sources such as dust, dirt, lint, sebum, etc. Therefore, a need exists for hair spray compositions providing good style retention without the disadvantages of stiff or sticky compositions.
Surprisingly, the present invention provides hair spray compositions having good style retention without being stiff or sticky. The resulting hair styles obtained from using these compositions hold up well under the common stress conditions and other factors as mentioned above. Importantly, such compositions provide the benefit of allowing the user to restyle the hair without the need for reapplication of spray product. The spray compositions of the present invention leave the hair both feeling and looking natural. Also, these products do not have the disadvantage of causing the hair to quickly resoil.
Because of growing environmental awareness among consumers, there is also a desire for hair spray compositions having reduced volatile organic compound (i.e. "VOC") levels. Typically, reduced VOC hair sprays have 80% or less of VOCs, whereas conventional VOC hair sprays have greater than about 80% of VOCs. In certain embodiments, the hair spray compositions of the present invention can be formulated as reduced VOC hair sprays.
The compositions of the present invention provide the recited benefits by utilizing certain silicone containing adhesive copolymers in combination with a solvent for the copolymer selected from the group consisting of water, ethanol, n-propanol, isopropanol, and mixtures thereof. These spray compositions, when dried, have a cohesive strength of greater than about 0.5 kgf/mm.sup.2, a total energy absorption per unit volume of greater than about 0.55 kgfmm/mm.sup.3, and preferably an impact strength of greater than about 7000 ergs. Without being limited by theory, it is believed that these physical characteristics of the dried hair spray composition account for the benefits observed.
It has also been found that the preferred hair spray compositions of the present invention have an improved removeability from hair during shampooing, wherein the removeability is defined in terms of hair stiffness and hair flaking values ranging from 0 to about 3.5 (0 to 4 scale). These hair stiffness and flaking values are indirect measures of hair spray removeability. Each of these values are determined in accordance with the methodology defined herein.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide hair styling compositions, and especially hair spray compositions, that provide improved hair style retention or hold without leaving the hair stiff or sticky.
It is another object of this invention to provide hair spray compositions that both look and feel natural.
It is another object of this invention to provide hair spray compositions that meet the requirement for conventional VOC levels, as well as for reduced VOC levels.
It is another object of this invention to provide methods for styling and holding hair.
These and other objects will become readily apparent from the detailed description which follows.